Give Papeete two days on the way in and one on the way out. Start at the Marche de Papeete at first light, eat dinner from the roulottes on Place Vai'ete, and set aside half a day for Te Fare Iamanaha in Punaauia, the museum that explains everything you will see on the outer islands. Pointe Venus and the Fautaua valley fill the rest.
Papeete is not the postcard, and that is the point. French Polynesia's only city is a working port of 26,654 people where the market opens before dawn, ferries leave for Mo'orea all day, and every road on Tahiti is measured from the cathedral steps.
The city's engine. Fish, fruit, monoi oil and pareo over two floors, and the hour to be there is the one before the office crowd, when the tuna is laid out whole and the flower crowns are still being tied. Sunday opens at 4:30am for the week's biggest ma'a Tahiti shop.
A dozen food trucks roll onto the waterfront square around 5:30pm and serve until late: poisson cru, grilled mahi mahi, chow mein, crepes. It is the fairest eating in the city, the tables are shared, and the harbour is the view. Bring cash.
Rebuilt from the ground up and reopened in February 2023, this is the one museum that explains Polynesia before you island hop. Navigation, tattoo, marae and the arrival of the missionaries, and a lagoon-side lawn worth the drive on its own.
Cook anchored here in 1769 to watch Venus cross the sun and the name stuck. What you get now is 1.5 km of black volcanic sand under ironwood trees, an easy swim, and a white lighthouse lit in 1867 that still works. Fifteen kilometres east of the centre.
Tahiti's tallest permanent fall drops around 300 m into a valley that starts 6 km from the town hall. Three to four hours round trip over river crossings that stay slippery. Access is regulated, so collect the nominative permit from the Papeete city hall first.
Five hectares of waterfront lawn opened in 2010, running from Place To'ata to Place Vai'ete. It is where Papeete runs and stretches at dusk and where the outrigger crews launch, and the seawall gives the best free view of Mo'orea across the channel.
Built in stages between 1856 and 1875 and the oldest Catholic church on Tahiti. The interior is plainer than the facade promises, and the painted stations of the cross are the reason to step in. It stands at PK 0, where every island road is measured from.
The only museum in the world given over to pearls, founded in 1998 by the producer who built the Tahitian industry. Biology, grafting and grading, which is exactly the briefing you want before spending money on a black pearl a hundred metres away. Entry is free.
A pyramid of cemented coral blocks topped with a stone urn, raised for Queen Pomare IV and holding her son, the last king of Tahiti, who handed the islands to France in 1880. Ten minutes east of the centre and almost always empty.
The seafront amphitheatre where Heiva i Tahiti is staged each July, and the single best reason to plan a trip around the first half of that month. Outside festival season it is an open plaza with the ridges behind it and the Mo'orea channel in front.
Pearl house on the Vaima's second level, one of the island's main dealers.
The preserved home of the co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty, gardens included.
The migration passes between July and October, and boats leave from the west coast.
Black-sand beach break on the north coast where beginners actually stand up.
The working port and the cruise terminal north of the centre. Function, not charm.
A day crossing the volcanic interior by river bed, past marae and waterfalls.
Opening ceremony at the town hall, then a lantern march through the centre.
Six days of Oceanian documentary at Te Fare Tauhiti Nui, in the room and online.
Public holiday marking the 1797 landing of the London Missionary Society.
The 'ori tahiti and himene championship at Place To'ata, and the year's biggest date.
The craft and heritage strand of Heiva, held on the museum lawn at Punaauia.
Bastille Day, folded into the middle of the Heiva fortnight.
The three-day outrigger race through the Leeward Islands, and the territory's biggest sporting event.
The rising of the Pleiades opens the Polynesian season of abundance.
The only international airport in the territory, 5 km west of the centre on runway built out over the reef. Bus 12 runs into town in about 40 minutes for around 200 XPF.
The island network, 21 routes, run by the RTCT since 2019. A single ride is around 200 XPF and a three-day visitor pass is sold for less per trip.
Terevau and Aremiti cross from the Papeete terminal to Vaiare in 30 to 40 minutes, several times a day, taking foot passengers and cars.
Raw tuna cured in lime, then dressed in coconut milk with tomato and cucumber.
The Sunday spread from the ahima'a pit oven: taro, breadfruit, pork and fish.
Mashed banana or papaya set with starch, baked, then flooded with coconut milk.
Freshwater river shrimp in a coconut curry.
Taro leaves cooked down like spinach, usually under suckling pig or chicken.
Fish fermented in seawater. Polarising, and the one locals dare visitors to try.
Coconut doughnut twisted into a figure eight, sold at the market before dawn.
Breadfruit, roasted whole in the embers or fried into chips beside grilled fish.
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French Polynesia 
